Power of W - Los Angeles Business Journal & Stiletto Gal
Love Made Me Do It - Clean Beauty
Fab Council - Rachel Pally
Jefferson Awards - April 2016
Jefferson Awards Foundation held their judging Maker City LA to select which team will represent the Los Angeles Region in Washington D.C.Teams prepared written report and oral presentation for the Spring Competition and presented to their fellow competing schools. Big congratulations to Willowbrook Middle School in Compton for winning today!!
To learn more about the Jefferson Awards Foundation visit them at: http://studentsinaction.jeffersonawards.org/
LA Collections Produces Best Instagram Pics of LA Fashion Week
The Los Angeles Times did a nice piece on the best instagram pics from LA Fashion Week, and several of the font- runners came from the LA Collections, which (as you know if you follow our SM feeds) took place here last week! Here's a peak at some of the pics:
Read the full story here.
Los Angeles Fashion Week Kicks Off Today with LA Collections at Maker City LA
Read LA Times coverage here.
She Streets: A Conversation with LA's Female Street Art Stars Recap
Our latest lobby art installation, "Deranged Amalgamation" by Paige Smith (AKA A Common Name) has been a huge success! Last week we celebrated Smith's work and the work of several other acclaimed female street artists with an exploratory conversation about, well... the life, work and career trajectory of female street artists in LA.
Smith was joined by fellow artists Anna Drumm and Kristy Sandoval, artist manager and publicist Heidi Johnson, and art historian, teacher and founder of Art and Seeking, Lizy Dastin, who will moderated the conversation. If you missed it, please enjoy the video recap below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F_Kx31Lh0M
Special thanks to our presenting partner for the event, LA Commons.
First Ever White House Maker Faire Unites #NationOfMakers
It's been a great week for the Maker movement. On Tuesday, President Obama visited a TechShop location in Pittsburgh on where he spoke about his agenda for economic development and lauded facilities like TechShop for spurring innovation in manufacturing by providing high-tech resource sharing, and homegrown R&D facilitation to communities across the country.
Yesterday, the White House hosted its first annual Maker Faire where tinkerers, builders, entrepreneurs, inventors and creators converged in our nation's capital to celebrate the Maker Movement. President Obama proclaimed June 18, 2014 a National Day of Making, saying, "I call upon all Americans to observe this day with programs, ceremonies, and activities that encourage a new generation of makers and manufacturers to share their talents and hone their skills." Read the Presidential Proclamation here (or watch the full video below). Learn more about the 2014 White House Maker Faire participants and festivities here.
Want to know more about efforts to #BringTechShopToLA or learn about joining the #NationOfMakers movement? Join us for a twitter party discussion next Thursday, June 26th from 1-2pm. No need to fly to the east coast - this is a virtual event so you can tweet in from anywhere. Info available here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wHorfRvvcE
Creative District Dubs Maker City LA A "Great Resource For Indie Filmmakers"
Our friends at Creative District wrote an awesome post on their blog as a follow up to last week's indie filmmaker mixer here, at Maker City LA. In addition to Seed & Spark, NationBuilder and Technicolor's new online platform for creative collaboration, we're proud to have been listed as an essential resource for Indie filmmakers. Here's an excerpt:
"4 Great Resources for Indie Filmmakers
This Monday we hosted an independent filmmaker mixer at Maker City L.A. along with our friends at Seed & Spark and NationBuilder.
Over 100 L.A. film and media makers joined us for a night of inspiring conversations, featuring a panel and Q&A with filmmakers Mia Chang and Brian Dannelly, moderated by Karen Worden ofFilm Courage.
For those who didn't attend, we’d like to introduce you to our event collaborators. Each of these organizations offers important resources for filmmakers and are all based in Los Angeles.
1. Creative District is a professional network for filmmakers and artists to collaborate. Showcase your work, find opportunities, and build your creative career all in one place. Over 10,000 creatives are collaborating on thousands of projects on CD, and we’d love to have you among them. Sign up today.
2. Seed&Spark is building a truly independent film community where filmmakers and audiences join forces to fund, promote and watch the best new independent films. Seed&Spark’s film-specific crowdfunding tool - the WishList - allows supporters to buy or loan specific items to a production (all of which count toward the fundraising goal). Their fees are also the lowest in the business, and their success rate is the highest (70%!) Filmmakers who choose to stream their films on Seed&Spark keep 80% of the transactional revenue, and Seed*Spark takes no rights. It’s your film!
3. Nationbuilder is community organizing software used by filmmakers, studios, agencies, and actors to help them raise funds, connect with influences and fans, and increase visibility of their work.
NationBuilder has quite a few films and production companies organizing on our software with great success, including Dear White People, Invisible War, The Bully Project, Brave New Films, Mediamente.TV, The Lost Bird Project, and more.
Read more about how grassroots organizing with NationBuilder helps films connect with audiences, and contact Jeff Mallare (jmallare@nationbuilder.com) or Carlin Scrudato (cscrudato@nationbuilder.com).
4. Maker City L.A. provides an elegant and affordable space for film and media makers, and is extending a special discounted Media Lab rate to our network. Watch as the stars of Sock Puppet Sitcom Theater demonstrate the capabilities of DTLA’s newest production facility:
http://youtu.be/Lq_RrQTJ9fI
Click here to read the post in its entirety.
Jesse Peyronel: It's All About Strong, Powerful Women
Check out this video recap of April's CreativeMornings LA session with writer/director/producer Jesse Peyronel. http://youtu.be/m_1OkZ8qvq4
TypeFace Revealed and Revered at Backasswards!
Last week, fans of font from far and wide convened at Maker City LA for a typographic speaker series presented by Los Angeles Is Just My Type (LAIJMT) Meetup Group featuring celebrated type designer David Jonathan Ross. Ross, who works at The Font Bureau, shared a riveting history on the art of typography, with a particular focus on his favorite variety: reversed stress typefaces. From Gothic Italian to Playbill to Arbor to Trilby...Tua...Estro...his own creation, Manicotti - and seemingly every other typeface in between - Ross made it perfectly clear that this isn't the only period in history when there have been too many fonts to choose from!
Check out these choice tweets from the event and be on the lookout for information about the next font-abulous LAIJMT Meet-up!
Backasswards #LAIJMT @MakerCityLA @mohawkpaper @ColorIncUSA @pr1marycolor @IcelandicWater @TasteofPace @sugarandfluff pic.twitter.com/td8Y4pvcUN
— TypeEd (@TypeEd) May 23, 2014
Watching David Jonathan Ross speak @MakerCityLA! #LAIJMT pic.twitter.com/9STV12sCam
— Brandie Mata (@ARTDESIGNLOVEME) May 23, 2014
Cool - and historically controversial - typeface from 1821 #backasswards #laijmt pic.twitter.com/lUCTa59pBA
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) May 23, 2014
Manicotti typeface - like a spaghetti western @djrrb @TypeEd #laijmt #backasswards #makercityla #DTLA pic.twitter.com/tBuG4Suygz
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) May 23, 2014
But thicker and tastier! @MakerCityLA @djrrb @TypeEd #manicottitypeface #spaghettiwestern #LAIJMT
— Juan David Rangel (@rangeljdr) May 23, 2014
Dynamism is about how the letter gets heavy. pic.twitter.com/zfFBbyGEPK
— Janette Jackson (@JanetteJackson) May 23, 2014
Why use a work horse when a show pony will do the trick? @djrrb talking typeface @TypeEd #backasswards #laijmt pic.twitter.com/B9wzPMcgw9
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) May 23, 2014
#backasswards #reversestress #type #accidental #twins #meetup @typeed @MakerCityLA @nosleeptilbrookelyn_ #AdamKing pic.twitter.com/wSpyiSeH2O
— Leah Faust (@typograffiti) May 23, 2014
Thx @TypeEd @mohawkpaper @ColorIncUSA @pr1marycolor @IcelandicWater @TasteofPace @sugarandfluff @djrrb 4 an awesome collab & amazing event!
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) May 23, 2014
Digital Journal Covers TechShop LA Town Hall
We are always thrilled to get great coverage of our events, like this first hand account of last week's TechShop LA town hall meeting by Digital Journal writer and hacker space advocate Matt Terndrup: Fabrication Studio TechShop is coming to Los Angeles, California http://youtu.be/T6-pktRt4bI
Near the center of this DIY maker movement, where just about anyone can build something for cheap, is a chain of member-based workshops called TechShop. This company was founded by previous Mythbusters advisor Jim Newton and part-time computer science professor Ridge McGhee. Jim’s vision was to establish a place where people can learn new skills while having access to industrial tools. In October 2006, they set up their 1st shop in Menlo Park, California. Over the next few years, TechShop grew into a vibrant, creative community of artists, makers, engineers, startup enthusiasts, and everyone in-between.
TechShop Los Angeles Town Hall: Tech & Innovation in LA Twitter Recap
Earlier this week, TechShop CEO Mark Hatch returned to Maker City LA at The REEF to lead a discussion about the state of LA's tech and innovation landscape with special guests Ava Bromberg (The REEF SVP), Michelle Garakian (Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti) and Brent Bushnell (CEO of Two Bit Circus). Local tech innovators, maker community members, entrepreneurs and potential investors came out to join the conversation and to support TechShop's efforts to open a 9th outpost at The REEF, in downtown LA.
Check out these choice tweets from the event:
What is @techshop? A place for community to partake in the #makermovement -@MarkHatch pic.twitter.com/z0J6VObgYN
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
We can inspire a whole generation to think about what's possible: to do, make, create @techshop town hall #bringtechshoptola
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) May 22, 2014
Michelle Garakian of @LAMayorsOffice starts tonight's tech panel by sharing the Mayor's vision of tech as the bridge for the middle class
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
Er, are you team #SiliconBeach or Team #techLA? Competition much? Between Manufacturing/Contemporary Art/Digital Media LA is a star!
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
We have heritage industries that are phasing out in LA, our innovation capital funders need to step up & invest in LA.
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
Yay new acronyms! Remember STEM? How about STEAM? Science Tech Engineering ARTS and Mathematics.
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
FACT: LA graduates more engineers than anywhere in the country. Let's give them a reason to stay here. #techLA #makercityla
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
How do we spark cross-pollination in LA? Events, physical rallying points, these things are critical...
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) May 22, 2014
.@techshop coming to @MakerCityLA will be such a game changer! Imagine making space , machinery and tools accessible to the people
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
That's a wrap! Thx to @MakerCityLA & @techshop for bringing this discussion together. Here's to keeping the convo going to spur more action!
— Consensus Inc. (@ConsensusLive) May 22, 2014
In March, TechShop announced plans to open in downtown Los Angeles at The REEF. For more information on investing and/or joining the campaign to bring TechShop to Los Angeles, go tohttp://invest.techshop.ws/los-angeles.
Big thanks to new Maker City LA community member Consensus Inc. for live tweeting this event!
Los Angeles, I’m Yours to Curate Lobby Art for Maker City LA
We are thrilled to announce that we've tapped local design, culture and lifestyle website, Los Angeles, I’m Yours to curate an ongoing series of art installations for our lobby! The first of these will feature the artwork of LA-based illustration designer Jesse Tise and we're having a big party next Friday, May 23rd to celebrate this collaboration and Jesse's big reveal of GRID WORLD! For more details about the event and to read LAIY founder Kyle Fitzpatrick's latest blog post about this awesome partnership, click on the link below and stay tuned for more exciting lobby art news!
http://www.laimyours.com/66997/los-angeles-im-yours-maker-city-la-present-jesse-tises-grid-world/
Mayor Eric Garcetti Visits Maker City LA at The REEF
Last night The Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti hosted a reception for the African & African American Commissioners of Los Angeles at Maker City LA at The REEF. Among other things, Mayor Garcetti touched on the potential for leadership in entrepreneurship and innovation to boost job growth and commerce in LA.
Our musically inclined Mayor then charmed guests with a mini jam session before taking a tour of Maker City LA and heading out for the evening.
Click the link below to watch a short video Mayor Garcetti on the keyboard!
It was an honor to host this event at The REEF. Many thanks to The Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti.
FGILA event at The Atelier at Maker City LA
On Tuesday, April 29th Fashion Group International's Los Angeles chapter (FGILA) hosted a stylish event at The Atelier - our brand new workroom and event space for fashion, accessory and jewelry designers. A robust and fashionable crowd was on hand for cocktails and conversation, with industry experts and insiders, about fashion, design and commerce in the digital age.
Panelists included:
Kendra Gratteri, Director of Merchandising, BeachMint
Alle Fister, Principal, Bollare
Rachel Pally, fashion designer
Nicolas Ullah, Director of Marketing US at TrendStop
Kelsi Smith of LA Fashion Council, Stylesmith and Two Point Oh! LA Moderated the conversation.
* special thanks to sponsors Om Cocktails and Artisan House
Check out pics from this event below and be on the lookout for more fashion events at The Atelier at Maker City LA!
ArtsTech LA (and tumblr page) launch!
Our very own Sharon Ann Lee has been instrumental in bringing the popular ArtsTechMeetup to Los Angeles, where she will serve as the group's Director (and Tumblr-er). Here's her latest post about last month's inaugural ArtsTechLA event:
ArtsTechLA Launches
Last week, we had our very first ArtsTech LA gathering hosted at Maker City LA. We had a fantastic panel including ArtsTechMeetup founder Julia Kaganskiy to kick off our event. The focus of our first meetup was to showcase a variety of Arts + Tech projects happening in LA and discuss the city’s unique ecology of communities experimenting and making work.
Julia began with the origins of the meetups in NY and how she wanted to bring the disparate communities of arts organizations, startups and tech artists together to share ideas and talk to each other. She also touched on the Art, Tech, Design incubator she is now heading at the New Museum called New, Inc. This experimental project is in part a response to the ongoing changes in the ways artists and creative are working today: cross-disciplinary, collaborative, leveraging technology and increasingly straddling the line between culture and commerce.
Amy Heibel shared news of the revival of LACMA’s Arts + Tech Lab which originally ran from 1967-1971 and paired artists like James Turrell, Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg with major tech companies. The twitterverse was all atwitter as Amy told a story about Oldenburg’s many thwarted attempts to animate his giant hydraulic, pneumatic mechanical icebag. She noted that “a really important part of the Art+Technology program is the pursuit of purposeful failure.”
Mileece, one of Maker City LA’s Artists in Residence shared her work and philosophy of using technology to highlight the dire environmental disaster headed our way. Her work uses clean energy to produce art objects and immersive experiences that reconnect us to plants, the earth, and each other.
George Bloom shared how Hollywood is using 3D laser scanning to recreate locations that are problematic to shoot like The Great Wall of China and The Vatican. He also talked about the possibility of pairing laser scanning and the Oculus virtual reality system as a way for artists to create new worlds with very little costs. Just a few days later, Facebook announced that it was purchasing Oculus.
Bret Nicely talked about how MOCA.tv was started to expand the conversation they were having with their audience. Being “the artist’s museum,” MOCA intended to create content that was compelling to the digital natives of YouTube, not just typical “museum” content with talking heads giving lectures. The energy of MOCA.tv’s collaborations with artists like Bjork and Yung Jake are great examples of how an institution with a clear and relevant POV can reimagine the museum in the digital age.
Mark Allen, founder of Machine Project, one of LA’s longest running experimental incubators, also lit up twitter when he said “there are more artists than the world can pay for.” At Machine Project, Mark creates artist lead events, classes and experiments that test ideas that may or may not work. The environment is friendly and inclusive, unlike the traditional gallery vibe, allowing the diverse ecosystem of LA’s creative community to experience emerging ideas in progress without judgment or fear of failure.
During the panel discussion, we had some great questions from the community that sparked possible future event topics.
Some themes emerged from this session about the landscape of LA that makes it uniquely hospitable for Arts + Tech .
- A variety of small independent projects percolating all over the city—from guerilla radio networks to experimental video games
- Direct access and informal collaborations between indie art projects and city institutions
- LA’s openness to new ideas, complex thinking, willingness to experiment and fail
- LA is known for Hollywood, but it also has deep science and technology roots like JPL and new innovators like Space X
- The variety of international communities that call LA home—enriching the city with great food, art, cultural practices and global thinking
- A willingness to share information and learnings with the community
- The great weather
Thanks to everyone who participated and came to our 1st event. Judging by the enthusiasm, it looks like LA was really ready for ArtsTech LA to happen. Apologies to all of you on the wait list who couldn’t get a ticket this time. Please follow us on twitter for the latest announcements on future events.
Thanks again to Julia for giving LA a great start. A big thanks to artist and photographer Jody Asano for taking these awesome photos of the event. And thanks to our sponsors GreenBar, Cabo Chips, Stumptown Coffee, and Joia for making our event so delicious.
See you soon at a future ArtsTechLA gathering!
Sharon Ann Lee, Director of ArtsTech LA
Read full post on Tumblr here and stay tuned for future events, new and Arts + Technology coverage!
First ArtsTech LA meet-up at CultureBrain Academy at Maker City LA
Last Saturday, #ArtsTech founder and Director of the New Museum’s Incubator for Art, Technology and Design, Julia Kaganskiy, spearheaded an exploratory discussion about the unique terrain of LA’s Art + Technology communities and culture. A diverse group of LA-based artists, makers, technophiles, museums, creative professionals turned out to mix, mingle and hear from a distinguished panel of experts that included: Kaganskiy, Bret Nicely (Associate Director of Digital Media at MOCA), Amy Heibel (VP Technology, Web and Digital Media at LACMA), Mileece (Sonic and environmental installation artist - and Maker Cit LA Artist in Residence), Mark Allen (Founder of Machine Project), Sharon Ann Lee (Culture Analyst, Co-Creator Maker City LA) and George Bloom (Executive Producer at CBS Digital/Visual Effects).
Here's a smattering of twitter highlights and take-aways from the conversation:
We're live tweeting from the 1st @ArtsTechLA meet-up at @MakerCityLA! http://t.co/aXTWqGDtdu #ArtsTech
— LACMA (@LACMA) March 22, 2014
If you know the answer before you start, you probably won't discover anything new-embrace serendipity@ArtsTechLA #makercityla #culturebrain
— Maker City LA (@MakerCityLA) March 22, 2014
Exciting to hear about @lacma new arts & technology lab at @artstechla @makercityla
— NationBuilder (@NationBuilder) March 22, 2014
@VIApublication @ArtsTechLA @LACMA @MakerCityLA Julie, can find PDF catalog of o.g. Art & Tech program on LACMA website. Think you'll dig.
— east of borneo (@eastofborneo) March 23, 2014
.@ArtsTechLA at @MakerCityLA is a great new way to activate the city's artistic and tech communities. http://t.co/ZwyOsOGpkw
— LA, I'm Yours (@LAImYours) March 24, 2014
First ever @ArtsTechLA this weekend was a hit! Great presentations & a packed house @MakerCityLA: pic.twitter.com/BZZ3qgW9QF. Thx @CultureBrain!
— Julia Kaganskiy (@juliaxgulia) March 24, 2014
All in all it was an illuminating afternoon and we can't wait until the next event!
Creative Mornings Los Angeles with Rock of Ages Creator Matt Weaver
The photo wall at CultureBrain Academy underwent a fitting face lift for CreativeMornings Los Angeles's February lecture last Friday. The blue-sky-and-hot-air-balloon backdrop (created for January's theme: Childhood) was replaced with images of winged sushi in honor of Rock of Ages creator/producer and Jiro Dreams of Sushi producer, Matt Weaver.
Weaver, a natural-born storyteller who spoke masterfully to this month's theme: Rebel, captivated the audience with tales of a colorful childhood in 1970's NYC (where he was raised by a gay, movie studio marketing whiz, father....and possibly the world's first mannie), and subsequent adolescence in Los Angeles (where he landed a job on the Disney lot at age 13).
Weaver continued to cut his teeth working for the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg before going on to sell dozens of his own movies and eventually developing the musical, Rock of Ages, which has been nominated for 5 Tony Awards, adapted into a Hollywood film, and is currently the 31st longest running show on Broadway.
Weaver made clear that his path to success was not an easy one, but a winning combination of "passion and naivety" ultimately paid off... and paved the way for subsequent success stories including his role as producer of the critically acclaimed Documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi (hence the fitting photo wall backdrop).
The talk a was super-inspiring, insightful and peppered with far more humor judge for Miss Fire Island) and fun facts than this mere recap could ever relay - suffice it to say that we expect to see more "rebel" behavior from Weaver as he continues to produce entertaining, culture-rich content.
Enjoy these movie trailers from Rock of Ages, Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Surfwise, Weaver's fascinating 2008 documentary about the 11-member, 70's surf-chasing Paskowitz family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLrx_QSd44E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-aGPniFvS0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USxhXb5VC5E
Thanks to Jon Setzen from CreativeMornings Los Angeles for partnering with Maker City LA and CultureBrain Academy once again! ... and to Little Branch Foods, Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Boxed Water for keeping us sustained, caffeinated and hydrated.